Drought, Xeric & Dry Soil Plants

Showing 25–32 of 132 results

  • Buddleja davidii Butterfly bush, Summer lilac, do ye zui cao in China Z 5-9

    Fragrant, large, lilac to purple arching spikes from mid-summer through fall

    $13.95/bareroot

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    Fragrant, large, lilac to purple arching spikes from mid-summer through fall

    Can not ship to: Delaware, Maryland, North Carolina, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Tennessee and Washington

    Size: 6' x 4'
    Care: Sun in well-drained soil.
    Native: Sichuan & Hubei provinces, China
    Wildlife Value: flowers very fragrant, attracts many butterflies, excellent cut flower
    Awards: Royal Horticultural Society Award of Garden Merit.

    Buddleja named to honor Reverend Adam Buddle, Vicar of Farmbridge in Essex and botanist. (1662-1715) Davidii honors Fr. Armand David a French missionary who noticed it.  Introduced to gardens by another French missionary Jean Soulie (1858-1905).  Soulie made dangerous expeditions to the Tibetan border of China and ultimately lost his life when he was tortured and shot in 1905.  This species 1st sent to the West (Kew Gardens) by Dr. Ernest Henry who found it near Ichang in 1887.  Irishman Dr. Henry worked as a customs officer in Shanghai and an assistant physician in Ichang.

  • Calamintha nepeta ssp. nepeta syn. Clinopodium nepeta ssp. nepeta Lesser calamint Z 4-9

    Profuse violet blooms on mint-scented, gray-green foliage gives frosty image, June-October

    $12.75/bareroot

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    Profuse violet blooms on mint-scented, gray-green foliage gives frosty image,  June-October

    Size: 18-24” x 8-12”
    Native: Europe and Mediterranean
    Wildlife Value: attracts bees, butterflies and hummingbirds

    This subspecies 1st described by Linnaeus in 1753. Genus name comes from Greek kalos meaning beautiful and minthe meaning mint.  It is not, however, a mint and is not invasive.

  • Callirhoe involucrata Wine cups, Prairie poppy mallow Z 3-9

    Magenta-purple up-facing cups with white centers, June - October

    $12.75/bareroot

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    Magenta-purple up-facing cups with white centers, June – October

    Size: 6" x 12-24"
    Care: Full sun in well-drained soil.
    Native: Missouri to Texas
    Wildlife Value: host for larva of Gray Hairstreak butterfly and nectar source for many different butterflies.
    Awards: Missouri Botanic Garden Plant of Merit; 1999 Plant Select®; Great Plants for Great Plains Plant of the Year 2020

    Callirhoe is named for the goddess Callirhoe, daughter of Hermocrates, the Greek river god.  Teton Dakota fired the dried root for smoke to cure the common cold and its aches and pains.  The liquid used to boil the root relieved internal pain.  First collected and named by English plant hunter Thomas Nuttall (1785-1859) but then renamed by other botanists.  Ferry’s 1876 catalog described it as having “a trailing habit, of great beauty.”  William Robinson (1838-1935), father of today’s mixed perennial border, recognized it to be “excellent for the rock garden, bearing a continuous crop of showy blossoms from early summer till late in autumn.”

  • Cerastium biebersteinii Mouse ear Z 4-7

    White felt-like foliage, white flowers in spring.  “Ornamental foliage dwarf plant with beautiful silvery tinted foliage,” Bliss & Sons Catalog 1872.

    $9.25/pot

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    White felt-like foliage, white flowers in spring.  “Ornamental foliage dwarf plant with beautiful silvery tinted foliage,” Bliss & Sons Catalog 1872.

    Size: 6" x spreading
    Care: Sun in well-drained soil
    Native: Tauria

    Cerastium is from the Greek keras meaning “horn” because of the shape of the seed capsule. Used as a groundcover under tropical plants in Victorian gardens.  In 1913 Sanders identified it as a “good edging or rockery plant.” Grown in American gardens since 1860’s.

  • Clematis ternifolia Sweet Autumn clematis Z 4-8

    Fragrant, small white blossoms smother this vigorous vine

    $14.95/bareroot

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    Fragrant, small white blossoms smother this vigorous vine in September and October.

    Can not ship to: Alabama, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Maryland, Nebraska, New York, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia.

    Size: 15-20’ x 6-10’
    Care: Sun moist well-drained soil mulched. Flowers on current year’s wood. Cut back in early spring to 6-8” above the soil.
    Native: Japan

    The genus Clematis was named by Dioscordes, physician in Nero’s army, from “klema” meaning climbing plant.  In 1877 seeds of this vine sent from Russia to the Arnold Arboretum in Boston, then distributed to nurseries throughout America.

  • Clematis virginiana Virgin’s bower, Devil’s darning needles Z 4-8

    July-September star-like white blossoms

    Original price was: $12.95.Current price is: $9.95./2" pot

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    July-September star-like white blossoms cover this vine – good for clambering up small trees.

    Size: 12-20’ x 4’
    Care: Sun to shade moist well-drained soil. Flowers on new stems so cut back in late winter or early spring to 6-8” above the ground.
    Native: Nova Scotia to Georgia and as far west as Kansas, Wisconsin native

    The genus Clematis was named by Dioscordes, physician in Nero’s army, from “klema” meaning climbing plant. One of 1st No. American plants sent to Europe – grew in Tradescant the Elder’s South Lambeth nursery in 1634.  Grown by Jefferson at Monticello in 1807.  Described by Breck in his 1851 book The Flower Garden: “The flowers are white borne upon cymes, and make a handsome appearance.”  Cherokee mixed this plant with milkweed to remedy backaches.  A root extract cured stomach aches, nervous conditions and kidney ailments.  For the Iroquois powdered root fixed venereal disease sores and an extract of the stem brought on strange dreams.  Pressed specimen in Emily Dickinson’s herbarium.

  • Coreopsis verticillata Thread leafed tickseed Z 4-9

    All summer into fall, free-blooming non-stop - yolk yellow daisies of 8 narrow spoon-shaped petals with a color matching center each atop a wiry stem. Cut back half-way to promote reblooming in fall.  

    $12.75/bareroot

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    All summer into fall, free-blooming non-stop – yolk yellow daisies of 8 narrow spoon-shaped petals with a color matching center each atop a wiry stem. Cut back half-way to promote reblooming in fall.

     

    Size: 24" x 18" spreading
    Care: Sun to part shade well-drained to moist well-drained soil, drought tolerant
    Native: S.E. U.S.
    Wildlife Value: attracts butterflies, Deer resistant

    Natives made a tea with the roots to remedy diarrhea and induce vomiting and a tea with the plant tops to make blood strong.  A drink made from boiling the entire plant was used to remedy internal pain and bleeding. Also made a red dye and a yellow dye.    Exported from its native America to England in 1759.

  • Corydalis lutea syn. Pseudofumaria lutea Yellow fumitory, Z 4-8

    Clumps of canary yellow narrow tube-shaped flowers with flared ends bloom over mounds of ferny foliage from late spring – fall. Longest blooming shade flower

    $10.25/pot

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    Clumps of canary yellow narrow tube-shaped flowers with flared ends bloom over mounds of ferny foliage from late spring – fall. Longest blooming shade flower

    Size: 9-15" x 18"
    Care: part shade to shade in moist well-drained to well-drained soil
    Native: Throughout Europe

    Corydalis is Greek for “lark” korydalos, referring to the shape of flower, a lark’s spur. Lutea means “yellow.” According to 16th century herbalist Culpepper, “Saturn owns the herb” so Corydalis lutea cured Saturn’s diseases of the liver, spleen, leprosy, scabs, itches, cholera, salty blood, jaundice, melancholy, plague, pestilence and red eyes. Greek physician Dioscordes authored 5-volume De Materia Medica writing that this “hinders fresh springing of hairs on the eye lids.”